The aim of the study was to evaluate the incidence of ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality in patients with retinal artery occlusion (RAO). This single-center retrospective study included 139 patients diagnosed with RAO between 2009 and 2020. The control group included 139 age- and sex-matched patients without RAO who underwent cataract surgery. The year of the surgery corresponded to the year of RAO onset. During the 12-year follow-up, patients with RAO had a shorter time to death (49.95 vs. 15.74 months; p = 0.043), a higher all-cause mortality rate (log-rank p = 0.026, and a higher rate of the composite endpoint, including ischemic stroke, myocardial infarction, and all-cause mortality (log-rank p = 0.024), as compared with controls. Patients with RAO younger than 75 years showed a higher risk of cerebral ischemic stroke (log-rank p = 0.008), all-cause mortality (log-rank p = 0.023), and the composite endpoint (log-rank p = 0.001) than controls. However, these associations were not demonstrated for patients aged 75 years or older. Our study confirms that patients with RAO have a higher risk of all-cause mortality than those without RAO. Moreover, patients with RAO who are younger than 75 years are significantly more likely to experience ischemic stroke, death, or the composite endpoint after an occlusion event, as compared with individuals without RAO.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic is significantly affecting the functioning of the entire healthcare system. The disease itself may be associated with thromboembolic complications. The purpose of this study is to compare patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and patients with ACS who were diagnosed with COVID-19 in terms of their clinical profile, management, treatment complications, and prognosis. Methods: We analyzed 47,940 cases of patients treated for ACS in 2020, including 44,952 patients (93.8%) who were not diagnosed with COVID-19 and 2988 patients (6.2%) who tested positive for COVID-19. Results: Patients with COVID-19 were significantly more likely to experience out-of-hospital sudden cardiac arrest (7.9 vs. 1.1%; p < 0.0001) and be transported directly to a catheterization laboratory (21.3% vs. 8.1%; p < 0.0001). Mortality was significantly higher in this group (0.9% vs. 0.4%; p < 0.0001). The risk of perioperative death was increased by age over 65 years, use of glycoprotein IIb/IIIa inhibitors (GPI IIb/IIIa), femoral access, critical left main stem coronary artery (LMCA) vascular lesions, ST elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI), and no-reflow phenomenon. Conclusions: Despite the pandemic, patients with COVID-19 were treated equally to healthy patients. Efficient organization of the healthcare system allowed the prompt transportation of patients to catheterization laboratories. The study group was characterized by a worse prognosis that was affected by multiple factors.

This article is available in open access under Creative Common Attribution-Non-Commercial-No Derivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) license, allowing to download articles and share them with others as long as they credit the authors and the publisher, but without permission to change them in any way or use them commercially.

Introduction and Objective.Retinal artery occlusion (RAO) is an ophthalmic and systemic emergency requiring urgent diagnosis and treatment. Data regarding mortality in this group, especially in the European population, are modest. The aim of this study is to assess all-cause mortality in post-RAO patients. Materials and method. This is a retrospective, single-centre study involving 198 patients following RAO diagnosed in 2004-2020. The control group included 198 patients after cataract surgery matched for gender and age, with the date of cataract surgery corresponding to the date of the RAO. Results. The average follow-up of the study population was 6.32±2.15 years. Post-RAO patients had significantly higher risk of all-cause mortality (Log-rank test p = 0.001), also when stratified for ages below 75 years (Log-rank test p = 0.016) and those aged 75 and over (Log-rank test p = 0.001). In the group of patients without cardiovascular events before RAO/ cataract surgery, post-RAO patients were also at higher risk of all-cause mortality (Log-rank test p = 0.011), but when stratified according to age, those observations were borderline significant (Log-rank test p = 0.083 for a group of patients aged less than 75 years, and p = 0.051 for patients aged 75 and over). Cox analysis showed that in the group of post-RAO patients, the main risk factors for all-cause mortality were age (HR 1.07, 95%CI 1.04-1.1; p < 0.001), ischemic heart disease (HR 1.72; 95%CI 1.08-2.72; p = 0.022), and permanent atrial fibrillation (HR 2.18, 95%CI 1.08-4.38; p = 0.029). Conclusions. Regardless of age and previous cardiovascular events, post-RAO patients are at a higher risk of all-cause mortality than patients without a history of RAO.